Mouthwatering dreams of days to come

Sunday, 4 Jun 2006 | Journal

One of the things I look forward to the most, is the food in Thailand. Any kind of food can be found there, especially in Bangkok. I actually met someone in Bangkok once who never ate Thai food. Such a shame! One of the things I look forward to the most is being able to eat sushi for a few euro instead of the 40-50 euro it costs here. But obviously, Thai food will be on the menu most of the days and I for one will be eating a whole lot of it.

Food in Thailand is cheap, cheap, cheap. Everybody knows that. I never knew how cheap it really was until I went and had lunch with Arjan in Pantip Plaza - we both had a plate of food and a drink for the grand total of just over a euro. At those prices, there is really no reason to make your own food. And especially when cooking for one, it’s not only more convenient but probably also cheaper to just go out. So, although I do enjoy spending time in the kitchen from time to time, I expect to eat out most of the time.

Outside of the real restaurants and eateries, there are two ways of ‘eating out’ that I have come to really like but are fairly uncommon in the Netherlands. The first is the famous food carts to be found on every street corner. They sell all kinds of stuff at dirt cheap prices. There are a lot of barbecue carts that have all kinds of meat on skewers grilling, to be enjoyed with some sauce or just as is. Also everywhere are the noodle carts, where you can just pick the ingredients and they whip up a nice plate for you. My personal favorite are the fruit carts; fill a little plastic bag with whatever you want and use the skewer handed to you to eat out of the bag. Brilliant!

The other one is food courts. My personal favorite in Bangkok (so far) is the Foodloft at Central Chidlom (a department store) where you can feast on all kinds of Asian cuisine but also get a slice of pizza if you want. You get a barcode handed upon entry and at every counter pay with that barcode. Upon leaving the place, you hand over the barcode and pay the total in one go. Very convenient. Other food courts make you buy coupons with which you can pay and will refund any remaining coupons when you leave.

Poor execution

I’m an avid guest of restaurants in the Netherlands. I’ll save you the rant on the generally poor quality of eating out at a moderate price in the Netherlands. But I have found variations on the above in Amsterdam that I found interesting.

The food carts would need a million and one licenses in the Netherlands, so they basically just put one and set it inside a little shop and called it ‘Wok To Walk’. These are of the ‘noodle cart’ variation where you just tell them what you want and a Thai (!) chef makes it right then and there. Perhaps I’m too picky or perhaps the average Dutch person is too un-picky, because even though the food is ‘just ok’ as far as I’m concerned, they seem wildly successful. Equally so are the La Place restaurants, more of the food court type. I actually tried their new style Asian corner recently and ordered a lunchdish with some rice and chicken. It had no flavor, the rice was undercooked and the girl who prepared it for me had no clue about or love for food. It turns out, when I went back, that she had forgotten to put the required flavoring curry paste into the dish. She actually wondered why I was appalled when she asked if she could reheat my dish and just add the paste then. Luckily, she did not dehydrate my chicken and just made a new serving. She should not be allowed in a kitchen.

While I applaud the fact that these things are making their way to the Netherlands, the poor execution commonly found here prevails again.

With that being said, it is time for me to head out and get myself some pad thai. At Thai snackbar Bird on the Zeedijk, in case you are wondering.